Horror Short Story Course with Alex Davis, Derby

Price: £180 for the full course + 2 x £100 reduced fee places for single-parent
writers, or writers in receipt of a means tested benefit, personal independence
payments, or disability living allowance (please contact info@commapress.co.uk
for more information)

Attendees must pay for full course - individual course units not available
separately.

Dates: Six workshops are held over a 6 month period, on the third Wednesday of
the month, to enable you to complete writing assignments:

16th
January

20th
February

20th
March

17th
April

15th
May

19th
June

Tickets can be purchased from Becca Parkinson, to register your place please
contact her on becca.parkinson@commapress.co.uk

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This course is about horror fiction...

Over the course of 6
workshops, you’ll get a handle on what makes great horror writing in the short
form, including building atmosphere and great reveals, exploring the traditions
of the genre, the importance of characterisation in horror, understanding
pacing in horror and much more. Completing set writing tasks between workshops,
and receiving structured, peer-driven feedback, you’ll develop 2 horror short
stories to completion, with tailored advice on how to shape the story, as well
as developing a host of other ideas for fresh horror tales.. Comma Press, one
of the UK’s leading publishers of short fiction is always looking for new
voices in short fiction and our courses have a strong history of producing
prize-winning short story talent.

What you need to be familiar
with …

You don’t necessarily need
any practical experience of writing stories, nor of supervised creative writing
of any kind, but it’s important that you have an interest in, and enthusiasm
for, horror stories in any form. To get the most from the course, you should be
prepared do some background reading, undertake writing tasks between sessions,
read the work of others on the course prior to each session, offer tactful –
yet frank – feedback, and receive constructive criticism on your own work. The
course will be specifically focusing on horror, but is equally applicable for
those with a previous work written in the field or authors wanting to explore
this exciting form for the first time.

What we won’t cover …

This isn’t a course devised
to help you write a novel, a novella, poetry, micro-fiction, or biography –
it’s all about the short story, which presents its own specific demands and
opportunities to writers (for the avoidance of doubt, short stories typically
weigh in at somewhere between 1500 and 8000 words long, for the purpose of this
course we will be looking at stories up to 5,000 words long).

Equipment you’ll need …

Something to write with (pen
and paper will do) during sessions, and a computer and internet access at home,
to upload your work in progress to the online drop box, or email to the group.
If you prefer to print out other people’s work to read prior to the sessions
(rather than reading from a screen), you’ll need to do this at your own
expense. The course will also feature a range of handouts and course resources
provided by the tutor

About the Tutor …

Alex Davis is a
creative writing tutor and lecturer with over a decade of experience, much
focusing on genre fiction. He has taught acclaimed workshop sessions on horror,
ghost stories, the Gothic, fantasy fiction, science-fiction and more, as well
as having run over thirty general writing courses around the East Midlands. In
his capacity as an events organiser, he has worked with modern horror
luminaries such as Adam Nevill, Joe Hill, Paul Tremblay, Andrew Michael Hurley,
John Connolly and many more. He has had a range of horror short stories
published, as well as a science-fiction novel (The Last War) and a
non-fiction horror book looking at the movie Martyrs.